Tip Up, Tip Down carry, questions???

[Darrell3644]

Why are some folders tip up carry, while others are tip down carry? I have always had enduras which are tip up. I have wanted to purchase the Military, but it is tip down.

It seems that a tip down carry folder would be hard to open since the knife would have to be rotated in your hand in order to put your thumb on the hole. Thus, a chance of dropping the knife by accident not to mention being much slower to open. Am I missing something here? Is there some sort of special technique to opening a tip down carry model quickly?

[The Deacon]

I would imagine safety is the primary reason that Spyderco liner and frame locks are almost always set up for tip down only. The ball detent used to keep knives with those locks closed does a marginally effective job at best.

[rs2]

I too had often wondered why one of my absolute favorite knives - the Military - was tip-down only.

I had the privilege to have met a very knid gentleman at Blade this year (see photo below) who demonstrated the intended use of the Military. I know realize that it is one (well, five actually) of the fastest deployed knives I own. By grasping the blade at the Spydie Hole with your thumb and index finger, drawing the knife out of your pocket and giving it a little circular movement toward your hip, the Military is ready for work. Truly a brilliant design.

[yablanowitz]

I know it is mostly a matter of technique, conditioning and preference, but I greatly prefer tip down carry myself. I find that when I draw a tip up knife, I almost always have to shift my grip on the knife before I can thumb the blade open, whereas on tip down knives I do as stated above, grasping the knife by the Spyderhole to draw it from my pocket and "Spyderdropping" it open. Depending on what I am doing, I may not even open it all the way. I have cut a lot of rope with a half open Spydie held by the hole.

[Mr Blonde]

I'm a diehard tip-up fan, just plain personal preference. I can get a better grip on the knife and during the opening sequence when the knife is carried tip-up.

Wouter

[tonydahose]

i am a tip up fan too...especially after putting a nice gash in my thigh...you will hear the same stories from people using tip up knives..just a personal preference and for me its strictly tip up.

[dalefuller]

I leave the clip on all of my folders, but the only time I use it is when I carry a knife IWB. Then I carry it at about 11:00. That makes it available with either hand, sitting or standing.

I prefer tip-down for this carry because it's an easier open for me with either hand. I grab the knife near the pivot and my thumb just naturally moves to the hole. The knife is open and locked almost as soon as the butt of the handle is out of my waistband.

If I draw a tip-up knife, I have to shift my grip forward after drawing the knife to get into position to open it.

[Lostification]

Interesting! I like both almost just as much. Personally, I find tip-down easier to pull out with a spydie drop.

Really, it comes down to what most people are used to using. Majority of spydies are tip-up therefore people are more used to using them. Though, with practice, tip up is just as easy if not better.

I got my first tip-down very early on with a Tom Mayo Northshore along with the old style delica which was only tip-up. You can see I'm hooked on opening holes. The Mayo knife has an oval hole which I used the spydie drop on often, lol. :D

How I see it is, tip-down is a little easier becuase the center of the knife , when open, is near the top of the pocket, therefore a little easier to open, where, with the tip-up, you have to dig down deep into the pocket to pull out the whole knife with a fast good grip.

Therefore, when just grabbing the protruding part of the knife, it is easier to flip or rotate a tip-down in the hand than it is to shimmy my grip over a whole tip-up knife.

However, there are many other styles and they all have there tip-up's and tip-down's. :p It really just depends what you have practiced. :D

[The Deacon]

I too had often wondered why one of my absolute favorite knives - the Military - was tip-down only.

I had the privilege to have met a very knid gentleman at Blade this year who demonstrated the intended use of the Military.

Interesting RS2, but did Sal explain why it is tip down ONLY as opposed to just demonstrating that tip down can allow rapid deployment? I have to believe there has to be more to it than that. Otherwise why bother with provision for tip up at all on any knife that can be set up for tip down. I realize some clip mounting arrangements preclude one mounting set up or the other - the C22 Walker could not be set up for tip up, and barrel bolt mounting rules out tip down. However, that's not the case with the Military, or with many other Spyderco liner and frame lock models that are not drilled for tip up.

I carry loose in my pocket, so I'm pretty much of a neutral observer when it comes to the tip up/tip down debate, all I really care about is that the darn thing comes off without leaving a gaping gully in the handle. But I do think there has to be some reason why, to the best of my knowledge, no Spyderco liner or frame lock comes drilled and tapped for tip up carry while numerous front lock models come drilled and tapped for both tip up and tip down.

[yablanowitz]

I'm not Sal, so it is guesswork on my part, but that seldom stops me from putting in my two bits worth :D .

As far as I know, the Military was intended to be as light as possible for a knife that size. Clip screws in G-10 don't hold all that well, so they need to go into a steel liner to be really secure. Extending the liner to anchor a tip up clip position would have added weight.

Another reason for making liner lock/frame lock knives tip down only is the simple matter of closing bias. Once the detent ball leaves the detent hole on the blade, they don't have any closing bias. If something else is carried in the same pocket and the Spyderhole is at the bottom of the pocket, it doesn't take much to snag the hole and overcome the detent. Once that happens, the blade stays partly open until some outside force closes it again, or the point of the blade snags something like the pocket seam or your leg and opens the blade the rest of the way.

Been there, done that, not looking for a repeat.

[Bolster]

Ooooh, you guys are talking about KNIVES. I get it. At first the question struck me as a little to personal.

[spyderdog]

I really prefer tip up. In my opinion and in my uses it seems safest. The tip is up, and pressed against the outside seem of my pocket. The blade doesn't really have any place to go.

It wasn't a spydie, but I got poked pretty bad with a tip down carry model. Don't care to have that happen again.

I don't carry my para or my military by way of clip for that reason, They sit nice and deep in the pocket.

[Salamander42]

I think I remember reading somewhere that paratroopers could only carry knives tip down on a jump. I could be totally wrong though. Thinking about it now it seems to me that any knife clipped in the pocket would be questionable for a jump. But then again, I could be totally off base there too. :confused: I don't know anything, just speculating. :rolleyes: I prefer tip up carry, for what it's worth.

[Michael Cook]

:spyder: Isn't the lum chinese drilled and tapped for tip up? :spyder:

[Brad S.]

Ooooh, you guys are talking about KNIVES. I get it. At first the question struck me as a little to personal.

:)


Brad

[Simple Man]

I prefer tip up because I get too much dust and grit in the pivot when it is exposed to the elements all the time. As far as opening goes, I guess I'm right side, tip-ambi :p , I can open either tip up or tip down and go between just as easily, (as long as it is in my right hand). :o

[spydutch]

I don't know why, but I like my bigger knives(Military/Endura) tip down and my Delica sized knives tip up. :confused:

[Fred Sanford]

Tip down. The Military has just become my favorite knife. So it's what I carry when not at work. I couldn't think of the Military being tip up ever.

At work I carry an SS Delica and I cary it tip down also. :)

[malice4you]

I've preferred tip-down for as long as I've carried clipped knives. Only recently - since when I got my rescue 93 and tasman, have I ever carried tip up, and I honestly do not like it. I really wish they had an endura4-like 4 way option for carrying, so I could revert to my very much preferred method of carrying. I can't get either of these knives out and deployed nearly as fast as I could almost all my tip downs.

[scout]

Wegner and Lum tanto folder are both tip up and I love them for that :D